The neighboring state of Utah has for years made efforts to claim federal public lands within its boundaries for itself. Now San Miguel County, Colorado leaders are taking a public stand opposing the transfer of federal lands to states.

At their Wednesday meeting, the San Miguel County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution brought forth by Commissioner Joan May, “publicly stating the value of public lands to the county’s economy, recreation heritage and quality of life; and opposing any effort to claim, take over, litigate for or sell off federal public lands within San Miguel County.”

The commissioners are sending that resolution to the county’s state and federal legislative representatives in an attempt to convince national and state leaders that federal lands are too important — and expensive — for states to manage.

May presented the resolution after returning from Washington, D.C. last week, where she was meeting with other members of Outdoor Alliance, a national public lands advocacy group. Christy Goldfuss, the managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and a key environmental adviser to President Barack Obama, spoke to May’s group and addressed questions about state takeover of federal lands, which encouraged May to present the resolution to the board.

“Federal lands have to be managed for all Americans and all our needs, whether it be resources of timber or grazing or recreation or quiet spaces or water,” May said after the county meeting. “The federal government is better suited to manage for all those demands and the states are too narrowly focused on their own needs.”

But the bottom line is that states simply don’t have the financial resources to manage the vast tracts of federal public lands, May added.

“Federal money and expertise to suppress wildfires is essential to protecting our communities, infrastructure and public lands,” reads one point of the resolution. “Collaborative approaches in which public land management agencies cooperate with the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, San Miguel County officials and our community are more likely to produce effective management than would ownership or management of public lands by the state of Colorado.”

The resolution and May both emphasized the importance of public lands to the county’s economy. The crowds of tourists who come here to spend money come mostly for the public lands, they said, and many county residents are employed by federal public land management agencies.

“Public lands are so important to our economy and quality of life here so I thought it was an important statement to make,” May said.

Public land under the management of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management accounts for more than 60 percent of the land in the county, according to the resolution.

“Wildlife and the scenic landscape on public lands attract outdoor recreation and tourism that are the dominant drivers of San Miguel County’s economy,” the resolution reads. “Business owners attract employees in large part because of the iconic landscape and recreational opportunities on federal public lands.”

The resolution also references ranchers and sheepherders in the county who depend on the large tracts of federal public land for grazing.

May added that a serious attempt to transfer federal public lands to the states was unlikely, but if it were to happen, the county would be even more vocal in opposition.

A proposed uranium mill in Southwest Colorado will not be built unless there is an unexpected turnaround in the price of uranium, the president of the company that is developing the mill said Friday in a conference call with investors.

Energy Fuels Resources Inc. will keep holding its license to build the Piñon Ridge uranium mill in the Paradox Valley of Montrose County, but it has no plans to act on the license, said President and CEO Stephen Antony.

“We intend to keep that license in a current, valid form, but not move on construction of the mill until market conditions support it,” Antony said.

The statement is old news to uranium experts, but it comes as a surprise to some Coloradans.

The company’s Piñon Ridge website says, “Energy Fuels anticipates starting construction in late 2012 or 2013.” And its plan on file with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment calls for the mill west of Naturita to be operational by early 2017, with construction beginning in 2015.

Warren Smith, a community involvement manager for the state health department, said Energy Fuels has not contacted his department with any plans to deviate from the schedule it has submitted. The license is valid for five years.

But uranium market analysts have known since Energy Fuels bought the White Mesa uranium mill in Utah that the company has put Piñon Ridge on the back burner. In fact, the company said so itself in a little-noticed statement in December 2012. It came in an annual report filed with financial regulators in Canada, where Energy Fuels is incorporated.

“With the recent acquisition by the Company of the White Mesa Mill, the Company no longer needs to construct the Piñon Ridge Mill in order to meet its planned production for the foreseeable future. Therefore, the Company does not intend to proceed with construction of the mill at this time,” the report said.

White Mesa, just south of Blanding, Utah, is the only conventional uranium mill in the United States, and it turned Energy Fuels into a major player in the North American uranium market. At the same time, the price of uranium has dropped, making Piñon Ridge a low priority.

“A lot has happened in the market since (the White Mesa purchase). The market price didn’t support building that facility,” Antony said.

Energy Fuels held a conference call Friday to discuss its corporate strategy after the completion this week of a merger with Strathmore Minerals Corp. In the hour-long call, executives didn’t even mention the Piñon Ridge mill until questioned by a reporter.

Even though the price of uranium has plummeted to $34 a pound – down from $51 in June – company officials are bullish on a return to higher prices as supplies run low and more nuclear reactors are built.

But Piñon Ridge is not a part of the company’s foreseeable plans. Instead, executives are much more interested in two other expansion projects in New Mexico and Wyoming.

The company’s strategy is to be ready to increase its annual uranium production to 6 million pounds a year – six times its current rate – if the market rebounds. The White Mesa Mill can handle up to 8 million pounds a year – enough for all of the company’s most optimistic expansion plans, according to Antony’s presentation on the conference call.

Colin Healey, a market analyst with Haywood Securities who closely watches Energy Fuels, said his forecast calls for a sizeable rise in uranium prices in the next two to three years. But even with the increase, he has not thought the Piñon Ridge mill would be built ever since Energy Fuels bought the Utah mill.

Healey analyzes market conditions and the company’s plans to forecast its future value.

MONTROSE COUNTY – The Telluride-based environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance is continuing its fight against the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in the West End of Montrose County with yet another legal challenge to the mill’s recently reissued radioactive materials license.

Last week, Sheep Mountain Alliance filed the complaint against the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, arguing that the neither the agency nor the hearing officer Judge Richard Dana addressed “substantial concerns” raised in last year’s public hearing in Nucla.

According to Sheep Mountain Alliance, extensive expert and public testimony was presented at the six-day public hearing held in November 2012, identifying problems with water, shallow hydrogeology, air pollution, tailings design, economic impacts, safety and environmental protections. These concerns, Sheep Mountain Alliance alleges, were not addressed by Dana or the state in their decision to reissue the license.

“The State of Colorado has once again blatantly ignored scientific and technical evidence that the Piñon Ridge Mill as proposed would endanger Colorado’s clean air, clean water, public health and economy,” said Hilary Cooper, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance. “Meanwhile Energy Fuels continues to pursue a license for a facility it has publicly stated that it does not have the funding or intent to develop.”

According to Cooper, an administrative hearing resulting in a definitive ruling by an independent law judge is a key component of modern nuclear fuel licensing. Sheep Mountain Alliance’s complaint asks the court to invalidate the license and require that modern licensing requirements are met before allowing the mill to be built. During the November 2012 hearing, according to SMA, Colorado’s chief regulator of radioactive materials said that the agency lacks the resources to carry out its regulatory functions over uranium milling tailings disposal.

“Currently, there are no Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations that require licensees to promptly remediate radiological cleanup,” said Travis Stills, an attorney with Energy & Conservation Law representing Sheep Mountain Alliance in the complaint.

“With its continued pursuit of the license for a facility it does not intend to build, Energy Fuels is deceiving the communities surrounding the Piñon Ridge Mill,” Cooper said. “We will continue to fight this application to ensure that the highest standards are met and that the clean air and water of the Dolores River Basin are protected from an industry with a legacy of contamination and expensive taxpayer cleanup liabilities.”

In response to the latest legal challenge, Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said on Tuesday that the complaint is repetitive.

SLICK ROCK, Colo. — The Dolores River bends through southwestern Colorado like a gooseneck, shaded by red rock canyons that leave those who pass through here breathless.

Hidden from the riverbanks, behind cottonwoods and mule deer tracks, are different, artificial formations. Off a nearby road, an aging tower marks the property of the Burros Mine, partly owned by State Representative Don Coram. Heaps of rocks tinged with the greenish hue of uranium are visible. Abandoned mining equipment lies strewn about. A darkened portal is gated shut. Downstream, another mine, owned by the Cotter Corporation, lies similarly silent.

Despite bursts of activity from 2003 through 2008, most uranium mines scattered across Colorado have largely been out of production for decades, a testament to fluctuating mineral prices. Now the future of these mines is at the crux of a dispute that could set a precedent for how they are handled.

Environmental groups in Colorado contend that many of the state’s 33 uranium mines should be forced to clean up, given that uranium mining, which flourished here during the cold war, has gone dormant. In legal filings, they have alleged that companies like Cotter are skirting potential costs associated with cleanup, which is required by the state after an operation shuts down.

The environmental groups say the companies should be prohibited from obtaining state-issued exemptions, under which the companies do not have to produce but are not obligated to restore the land, either. Letting the mines idle heightens the risk of contaminating treasured areas like the Dolores with radioactive substances like uranium and radon, the groups argue. At a hearing on Wednesday, Colorado’s mining board will review the environmental groups’ objections.

The dispute cuts especially deep in the West, where abandoned uranium mines pock the region and have cost the federal government millions to reclaim.

“State law says that you should be either mining the land or you should be reclaiming the land so it can released for other uses,” said Travis Stills, a lawyer with Energy & Conservation Law, a firm that represents the Information Network for Responsible Mining, a Colorado watchdog group that goes by the acronym Inform. “But you can’t just go out and occupy the land for decades while doing essentially nothing, except be an ongoing source of pollution.”

Over the last two months, the minerals law group has filed objections with Colorado’s mining board over seven uranium mines that recently filed for the exemptions, known as “temporary cessation” permits. The permits allow mines to stop production for five years without closing, and are intended to consider the nexus between mining activity and mineral prices. Operators can reapply, but production cannot be halted for more than a decade. A mine must eventually show activity or shut down and restore the land it used.

In their objections, the environmental groups note that the mines in question, in all but one case, exceeded the 10-year limit years ago, and have merely applied for additional permits.

The groups filed several more objections Tuesday over Mr. Coram’s Gold Eagle Mining company, which has applied for the extensions on four mines.

“We feel these mines are doing everything they can not to reclaim,” said Jennifer Thurston, Inform’s executive director. “These are sites where there’s a great potential for radioactive contamination. They shouldn’t be just casual operations.”

In response, Colorado’s Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, part of the Natural Resources Department, said that many of the mines are legally still eligible for temporary cessation. A lawyer for the division, Julie Murphy, wrote that state law restricts the permits to 10 consecutive years, not 10 years total.

Cotter’s mines, for example, had reached their limit in the early 1990s. But Ms. Murphy noted the mines had since switched “to intermittent status,” allowing them to stay open with minimal activity, remaining eligible for a third exemption.

Officials with Cotter or its parent company, General Atomics, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the company has defended its operations in legal filings.

“Inform seeks to permanently close the mines as if they have no value, are unregulated by the division and were abandoned long ago by their owner,” wrote Robert Tuchman, a lawyer for Cotter. “Nothing could be more remote from the truth. The mines are of great importance to Cotter.”

Nonetheless, Tony Waldron, minerals program supervisor for the division, said Colorado was “taking a hard look” at when a mining operator needed to shut down and begin reclamation — the cost of which can range from a few thousand dollars into the millions.

Mining has long been a source of glory and ghosts in Colorado’s Uravan mineral belt, especially during the cold war, before the industry crashed in the 1980s.

As the United States now seeks homegrown energy sources, the uranium industry has shown signs of a resurgence. Beginning in 2009, one company, Energy Fuels, began seeking a license for the first new uranium processing mill in more than three decades, in Colorado’s Paradox Valley.

Still, there has been no major uranium ore production in Colorado since 2009, according to state records.

The dispute in Colorado is complicated by a federal injunction that temporarily prohibits all mining activities on 25,000 acres of Department of Energy land here, including tracts leased by Cotter and Gold Eagle. A federal judge ordered the ban in 2011, after the Energy Department moved to extend its leasing program for uranium mining. Judge William Martinez found the government had failed to consider the environmental impacts.

The Energy Department recently drafted a new environmental impact statement, and public hearings are scheduled for this month. Mr. Coram said he had already completed reclamation on one of the mines and planned on using the other mines when the timing was right.

But Mr. Stills said that granting Gold Eagle’s mines and others another five years to avoid reclamation would only increase the risk of contamination.

Both Colorado’s mining division and the state’s Public Health and Environment Department monitor water quality around mines, which are also subject to inspections. And mines must now present a detailed plan showing how they will stay environmentally compliant. In 2010, mining inspectors found that uranium from Cotter’s closed Schwartzwalder mine contaminated a creek flowing into a local reservoir. The company has agreed to clean up the mine and the creek.

The United States Geological Survey is also poised to start researching the potential long-term impacts of uranium mining on wildlife, the environment and humans.

For now, the future of uranium mining here remains murky. Near a ridge named Last Chance, uranium mines bought by Energy Fuels in 2012 sit vacant, generators abandoned, wires clawing the air as if searching for signs of life. A company spokesman said it hopes to restart mining as soon as the price of uranium rises again.

But Ms. Thurston of Inform said that time has passed. “The uranium boom ended a long time ago, and it hasn’t come back all this time,” she said. “I don’t understand why we have to wait for the past to be cleaned up.”

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY – A settlement was reached late last month between Sheep Mountain Alliance and PacifiCorp that obligates the company to investigate and take further remediation actions on the Silver Bell Tailings located near the Ophir turn on U.S. Hwy. 145.

Since 1998, PacifiCorp has taken voluntary steps to cap, stabilize and clean the mine tailings deposited by the Silver Bell Mill in the 1950s. For the past two years, that completed remediation work on the tailings have been in a monitoring stage. So far, the remediation work has been unsuccessful in keeping the Environmental Protection Agency’s water quality standards for the San Miguel River at acceptable levels.

Roughly one year ago, when, according to Sheep Mountain Alliance Director Hilary Cooper, the organization was “combing” through EPA water data from the San Miguel River, downstream from the tailings, “alarming” records they believed to be Clean Water Act violations turned up.

SMA eventually brought a citizen Clean Water Act lawsuit against PacificCorp , alleging liability due to years of illegal discharges of heavy metals, acidic drainage and other pollutants from the impoundment. All of those mine contaminants, the lawsuit alleged, were flowing out of the Silver Bell Tailings impoundment and into the Howard Fork of the San Miguel River, despite the remediation work that had been completed on the site.

The lawsuit eventually led to a mediation process between SMA and PacifiCorp, resulting in a settlement and a consent decree announced March 21. In the settlement, both parties agreed to use a third-party expert to analyze and recommend a way forward that both parties could agree on. PacifiCorp has agreed to embark on four-step monitoring process of the tailings that will determine where the specific source of the contamination is located; once that is found, PacifiCorp will come to the table with a proposed correction.

“What we believe is that it will lead to a replacement of the tailings cap,” Cooper said. “But this way, with an in-depth analysis of the contamination sources, we think a new cap will be engineered in a way that will have a higher chance at success than what is there right now.”

PacifiCorp never actually deposited mine tailings, but did lease on which the mine tailings were deposited in 1941. At one time, Western Colorado Power, once a part of Utah Power, owned and leased the land, but Utah Power has since sold all working assets off, including that parcel of land to PacifiCorp.

As part of that consent decree, PacifiCorp agreed to do monitoring work this summer on the tailings and must then come up with a new remediation recommendation by 2014.

“Essentially, they are trying to do the right thing but they didn’t have the right information in order to stop the contamination from happening the first time,” Cooper said. “We forced this project by bringing in a needed technical expert. It was a positive negotiation and I think it is a strong consent decree for both parties.”

In addition to the management plan action, PacifiCorp has also agreed to pay $150,000 to the San Miguel Watershed Coalition. Under federal law, polluters found accountable under the Clean Water Act are required to pay funds in lieu of civil penalties toward local watersheds.

The funds will be applied to the restoration of the Priest Lake reservoir. The restoration project will be conducted through a public-private partnership comprised of SMWC, the United States Forest Service, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, and other conservation groups and will restore the healthy fish habitat, water storage capacity and scenic attributes of the Priest Lake recreation area.

TELLURIDE – At a hearing that was sparsely attended by members of the public, the San Miguel Valley Corporation cleared three major hurdles on Tuesday on conceptual proposals to develop two subdivisions on the north side of the Hwy. 145 Spur near Telluride.

The San Miguel Board of County Commissioners unanimously granted SMVC approval of two sketch subdivision plans for Planned Unit Developments on its Deep Creek and Mill Creek parcels. Also at the hearing, which was held at the Telluride Fire Station, the commissioners approved an amendment to the San Miguel County Land Use Code to create a new Low Density Residential zone district to accommodate the proposed development on parcels that were zoned Planned Unit Development Reserve. All three approvals granted on Tuesday were recommended by the San Miguel County Planning Commission from a hearing held last September.

After so many years of development proposals with SMVC, including the one that led to the voter-approved condemnation of the Valley Floor, Commissioner Art Goodtimes said the relationship has ultimately resulted in a good plan for the Deep and Mill creek parcels.

“It’s very interesting to see after so many years,” Goodtimes said, just before the commissioners granted the three approvals. “We have come to a very interesting place. I appreciate the fact that the community struck a hard deal and that you guys have come back with a very good plan that respects ecological costs.”

Before Tuesday, the two parcels of land were zoned Planned Unit Development Reserve. In the LUC, that zone district contemplated that development of an alternative density could be accomplished by rezoning the property to the Low Density Zone District. However, in 1995 the Low Density Zone District was amended to read that it applies to areas already designated Low Density Zone District. Since that district was no longer available as an alternative, SMVC proposed the LUC amendment to create a new zone district, now titled Low Density Residential following Tuesday’s hearing, that will allow SMVC a density of one single-family residence per six to eight acres.

The allowable house size approved falls within a range of 5,500 square feet to 7,000 square feet.

SMVC Land Planning Consultant Peter Jamar said his team has developed four classifications of home sizes that will be geared toward the various characteristics of each building envelope.

“The preliminary review will be the time for us to get into the nitty gritty of that,” Jamar said.

The sketch plan for the 91-acre Deep Creek parcel shows 15 lots equaling one single-family residence per six acres. The lots will range in size from two to six acres. Approximately 13.4 percent of the Deep Creek parcel will be allocated for development while the remaining 89.4 percent will be undeveloped or designated open space. Access to the Deep Creek parcel will be connected to Airport Road.

The sketch plan for the 121-acre Mill Creek parcel subdivides the land into 20 lots, resulting in a ratio of one single-family residence per 6.06 acres. The Mill Creek sketch plan offers 50 acres of common open space, 58 acres of private open space and a one-acre public garden or park. Approximately 10.6 percent of the parcel will be allocated for development and 89.4 percent will remain undeveloped or open space.

Because the parcels cannot tie into the Town of Telluride’s wastewater sewer system without annexation, individual homes on both developments would be served by onsite wastewater systems that would exceed state regulations for design criteria and standards. Based on the water rights portfolio of SMVC, and existing physical water supplies, a legal and physical water supply has been deemed by the county to be available for both Mill and Deep Creek parcels. Deep Creek’s water needs will be served by the Aldasoro Ranch water system through an agreement made with the Aldasoro Ranch Home Owners Company.

Water supply for the Mill Creek parcel will come from surface water diversions from Mill Creek, Sheep Creek, the East Fork of Deep Creek, and the San Miguel River. Augmentation ponds will support the Mill Creek system.

To satisfy the LUC’s employee housing mitigation requirements, SMVC intends to transfer a three-acre parcel of land on the eastern portion of the Mill Creek parcel to San Miguel County for affordable housing. Architect Cal Wilbourne was hired by the county to analyze the site for building potential and he found that the site could be developed for up to 22 units of affordable housing. Because of the proximity to the Hwy. 145 Spur and a potential need for berms and other issues like potential rock fall hazards, Wilbourne said there is a potential for increased costs in developing the site.

To mitigate those potential increased costs, Commissioner Elaine Fischer asked if SMVC would be willing to add a .25 percent real estate transfer assessment on top of the .75 percent assessment allocated for transportation impact mitigation to help cover the potential costs of making the site buildable for affordable housing. Both Jamar and SMVC attorney Tom Kennedy said they would be amenable to that condition and would bring a specific answer to that question back at a later date.

There was little public opposition to the proposals at Tuesday’s hearing. In fact, the number of representatives on SMVC’s team greatly outnumbered members of the public at the hearing. Sheep Mountain Alliance Executive Director Hilary Cooper asked if there was any hope of getting the Mill Creek parcel annexed into the town in order to achieve a development with smaller lots that are located closer together and has more public benefits.

“Ultimately, we feel like this is the last remaining opportunity for the county to get some creative forward-looking community servicing needs as well as ecological needs for these last remaining parcels,” Cooper said. “We appreciate the huge steps that have been taken but suggest that it could go a little bit further.”Telluride resident Linda Miller asked if SMVC would be willing to dedicate a parcel of open space for a new high school soccer field so that if the school needs to expand, it could expand where its current playing field is now.

Given the past SMVC proposal on the Valley Floor, Kennedy said that was unlikely.

“There was a time, as part of the proposed settlement with the town, where there might have been a school built out there,” Kennedy said. “That ship has sailed and we are dealing with the land use code that we have in front of us.”

SMVC plans a payment in lieu of land dedication to satisfy the school’s Land Use Code dedication requirement.

With Tuesday’s approval of the conceptual sketch plans, SMVC has satisfied the first two of five steps in the county’s land use process. SMVC must get planning commission and BOCC preliminary approval of plans to satisfy steps three and four. The fifth and final step is final PUD approval from the commissioners.

WESTERN SLOPE – The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment denied an appeal by environmental groups charging that last November’s public hearing regarding Energy Fuels’ radioactive materials license did not meet state standards.

The denial paves the way for the state agency to make a formal decision on the proposed Piñon Ridge uranium Mill radioactive materials license in April.

CDPHE Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer Chris Urbina upheld Judge Richard Dana’s Jan. 14 decision that the public hearing held in Nucla late last year met the requirements of the Colorado Administrative Procedure Act. Dana was the court-appointed officer presiding over the public hearing, which was held in Nucla.

“These decisions clear the way for the department’s final decision regarding the pending radioactive materials license application to be issued in April, 2013,” Urbina wrote in a letter on Feb. 28 announcing his decision.

The appeal was filed on Jan. 25 by four environmental groups, including Telluride-based Sheep Mountain Alliance, asking Urbina to deny Energy Fuels’ application for a radioactive materials license. While Urbina denied that appeal, he said the CDPHE will give “serious consideration” to the testimony provided in this latest hearing.

“We have listened, and will continue to listen, to diverse and comprehensive testimony from all interested parties regarding this application, from community members impacted by the potential licensing of the mill; from people who want jobs that would be created by a new mill; from environmentalists who want to know that public health and the environment will be protected; and from industry that wants us to develop natural resources,” Urbina wrote. “While there is a disagreement on the nature of this hearing process, there is no disagreement that it helped the State acquire additional information and perspectives useful to the department’s decision.”

While Sheep Mountain Alliance Director Hilary Cooper said she does not expect Urbina to overturn Dana’s decision, she said she is pleased that the state agency acknowledged that it is required to consider all of the evidence presented at the hearing – evidence, Cooper is confident, that will keep the CDPHE from issuing the pending radioactive materials license.

“In light of this damning evidence on the potential impacts of the Piñon Ridge Mill, and the lack of a thorough and independent review process by the State, we believe they have no other option than to deny the license after second more professionally conducted review process,” Cooper said.

A radioactive materials license to build the first uranium processing mill in the United States since 1980 was initially issued to Energy Fuels in March 2011. Following a lawsuit led by Sheep Mountain Alliance against the CDPHE, a Denver district judge in June 2012 ruled that the license was unlawful because a formal, adjudicatory hearing was not properly provided. But last November’s hearing, Urbina has now confirmed, provided that hearing.

“This is just one more step forward in the process, and we hope the State decides to reissue the license in April,” Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said on Friday.

WESTERN SAN JUANS – Wilderness supporters across the region on Thursday applauded Sen. Mark Udall’s reintroduction of the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Bill, piece of grassroots legislation that would federally preserve a patchwork of public lands in southwestern Colorado.

“Colorado’s scenic mountains and open spaces create jobs and form the very foundation of our thriving outdoor recreation economy. We need to support these job creators by protecting and preserving the public lands that are critical to their businesses and our quality of life in Colorado,” Udall said. “This legislation is an example of how wilderness should be done — from the bottom up and with the support of local businesses, leaders and residents.”

The bill seeks to preserve 61,000 acres in San Miguel, Ouray and San Juan counties. It would achieve this by expanding some existing wilderness areas, designating one new one, and extending new protections to certain other wild lands in the area. Specific provisions include:

• 3,170 acres added to the existing Lizard Head Wilderness Area in San Miguel County;

• 21,606 acres added to the existing Mt. Sneffels Wilderness Area in San Miguel and Ouray counties;

• 8,614 acres of the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area in San Miguel County,located in the Disappointment Valley, designated as wilderness.

It would also extend new protections to other wild lands in the region:

• 21,697 acres in San Juan and San Miguel County including Ice Lakes Basin outside of Silverton and the high alpine peaks near Ophir designated as the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area. Existing uses including heliskiing would be allowed to ontinue, but no new roads or other development will be permitted. The area would automatically become wilderness should the heliski company cease to operate in the area.

• 6,595 acres withdrawn from eligibility for mineral leasing in Naturita Canyon, near Norwood in San Miguel County.

The bill was originally sponsored in the House by John Salazar and in the Senate by Mark Udall in 2009, but failed to pass Congress.

Wilderness advocates managed to revive the legislation in 2011; Udall and co-sponsor Michael Bennet reintroduced the bill in September of that year. Constituents on both sides of the Wilderness issue spent much of the remainder of 2011 trying to influence Representative Scott Tipton’s decision whether to pick up the Wilderness Act where the ousted Salazar had left off by introducing companion legislation in the House.

Supporters pointed to broad grassroots support for the wilderness expansion, and its potential benefits for tourism in the area. Opponents, including then newly elected Ouray County Commissioner Mike Fedel, argued that wilderness designation would negatively impact mining in the region, including mining for so-called rare earth minerals.

Wilderness designation “would eliminate the possibility of developing these forever,” Fedel said, when he cast the lone dissenting vote among Ouray County Commissioners against two in favor of continuing the county’s support for the wilderness expansion.

Tipton attended a listening session in Ouray in September 2011 that drew over 400 wilderness advocates and opponents from throughout the region. His staff then conducted two more open house events in Silverton and Telluride to meet with concerned constituents on the matter.

Wilderness advocates turned up the heat, putting ads in regional papers and sending a letter to congressman urging him to make up his mind one way or the other, and to let the community know where he stands on the matter. But so far, he has not tipped his hand.

Udall, meanwhile has never stopped championing the bill. In March of 2012, he spoke to his colleagues at a Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee hearing about the merits of the legislation.

Hilary White, Executive Director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, was among those who praised Udall for once again reintroducing the bill today.

“Senator Udall believes, along with the majority of Colorado residents, in the vital importance of preserving our remaining wild lands and we are eager to see this incredible area in Southwest Colorado move closer to protection” said White. “There is strong regional support to see the clean air and clean water resources in these areas protected and we hope there will be support in Congress as well.”

MONTROSE COUNTY – Both proponents and opponents of the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill are lauding Judge Richard Dana’s ruling on Monday to send Energy Fuels, Inc.’s application for a radioactive materials license to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for a final decision.

Dana, the appointed hearing officer who presided over the administrative hearing last November in Nucla, made no recommendation on whether the state should grant the license or not. He concluded that the new hearing satisfied the requirements of Colorado law and that officials at the CDPHE must consider any new evidence that was presented at the hearing when they make their final license decision by April 27.

The ruling, or lack thereof, sends the licensing decision back to the CDPHE, which initially granted the Canadian mining company a radioactive materials license for the mill in 2011, before a Denver judge ruled that the first hearing process had been inadequate.

From Energy Fuels’ point of vieiw, Dana’s ruling on Monday was a step in the right direction.

“We think the judge did what he was supposed to do,” Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore told The Watch. “He presided over an intermediate step in the licensing process and at that hearing there was additional testimony taken. We got another 50-plus hours of testimony taken and from our perspective, nothing new came out of that that wasn’t already on the record.”

Because Dana did not recommend approval of the uranium mill in his ruling, the environmental organization opposing the mill, Sheep Mountain Alliance, believe his ruling came out in their favor.

“We are still reviewing the decision, but Judge Dana’s order today is clear: There was no recommendation for its approval,” said Hilary White, executive director of the Sheep Mountain Alliance. “Instead, regulators must now consider expert evidence we gave them two years ago but which they failed to analyze or even consider. Once state regulators consider the evidence – which clearly demonstrates the mill’s negative impacts to the area’s air, water and sustainable economies – we believe there will be no decision for them other than to deny the license for the mill.”

According to Sheep Mountain Alliance, expert evidence presented at the hearings revealed significant omissions and deficiencies in plans submitted by Energy Fuels. The expert testimony also criticized Colorado radiation regulators’ analyses of the Canadian company’s plans to protect water in the Paradox Valley. In addition, according to Sheep Mountain Alliance, Colorado’s chief radiation regulator also admitted during the hearings that he “would like to be able to send” toxic wastes to the Piñon Ridge Mill, and that Colorado doesn’t have the resources to supervise uranium mills or to thoroughly consider the application for the mill.

Energy Fuels Moore remains confident that much of what was presented at the hearing in Nucla was nothing new.

“From our perspective, Sheep Mountain Alliance didn’t turn over anything new. They offered up the same experts and the same reports that were already on the record,” Moore said. “Right now we are going to wait on the CDPHE. They have until April to make a decision.”

At the hearing, and during cross examination of witnesses employed by CDPHE, Dana said it became apparent that each employee of CDPHE who was a part of the initial license review may have “retained” individual files to that review process and that those files may not have been initially placed in the public record.

Dana said discovery of those files was conducted in a post-hearing procedure in the office of CDPHE on Nov. 27, 2012. Sheep Mountain Alliance complains that those five documents were not earlier produced in response to the general and broad requests for production of documents earlier addressed to CDPHE.

In that complaint, Dana ruled that there was no effort before the initial hearing to conduct depositions of those CDPHE employees and no reason to conclude that the existence of those individual files would not have been disclosed in any formal or informal discovery process. The documents are now a part of the record.

“The record does not support a conclusion that CDPHE failed to respond to reasonable discovery requests, and sanctions for discovery violations or reopening the hearing are not appropriate,” Dana stated in his ruling.

According to Sheep Mountain Alliance, Dana’s decision may be appealed to CDPHE Executive Director Chris Urbina, with the results presented to CDPHE staffer Jennifer Opila for a final agency licensing decision due by late April.

If the issuance of a radioactive materials license for the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in the Paradox Valley seemed to have signaled the end of its approval process, 2012 signaled its restart.

After the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued the radioactive materials license to the Canadian mining company, Energy Fuels, Inc. in 2011, a Denver judge validated the concerns of the environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance along with the towns of Telluride and Ophir when he ruled in June that a new public hearing must take place. The fight between opponents and proponents of the mill made numerous headlines over the year and is The Watch’s No. 2 story of 2012.

The mill’s opponents received their first victory against the issuance of the radioactive materials license in March when the U.S. Regulatory Commission found that the CDPHE did not meet federal standards during the mill’s application process.

“Basically, what we found was the state did not provide the public a chance to comment on the application, specifically the environmental review, or to allow the public request an adjudicatory hearing,” NRC spokesman David McIntyre said on Tuesday. “The state is required to do that under the [Federal] Atomic Energy Act.”

McIntyre went on to say that the NRC would not intervene or overturn the CDPHE’s decision but said the agency expected a written response describing how it intends to move forward with its concerns.

Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said the NRC’s finding came as a surprise, especially, he said, since the licensing authority has been delegated to the state of Colorado.

“The bottom line here is the NRC doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the matter,” Moore said. “Letters like this don’t have any bearing on what’s going on in our view. The public was given ample opportunity to comment. The state followed the law. We followed the law. That is our view.”

It was the view of Denver District Court Judge John McMullen in June that another public hearing is necessary for Energy Fuels to acquire a license. McMullen ordered the CDPHE to initiate a new public hearing process that provides an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. Until that process is concluded, Energy Fuels is prohibited from conducting any activities at the proposed mill location.

“There is no longer a license to operate a uranium mill in the state of Colorado,” said Hilary White, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance. “Throughout this lengthy review process, we have insisted that the state process should be conducted fairly and that we were denied our rights to a formal public hearing. The court has agreed with us that the review was deficient and unlawful. We look forward to a new review and to exercising our rights to challenge the deeply flawed environmental studies that supported the original license.”

McMullen ordered a new hearing to begin on Oct. 15 where exhibits and written testimony will be filed as well as providing the opportunity for parties to cross-examine expert witnesses. The new form of the public hearing was described as a courtroom trial.

“As I understand it, Energy Fuels will give a presentation and then those who have applied for party status will have the opportunity to give a presentation and cross examine our technical experts,” Moore said. “Energy fuels will also have the opportunity to cross examine witnesses as well.”

Proponents and opponents of the mill squared off once again, this time in Nucla at the Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge in October. For the most part, the evidentiary hearing, which unfolded under the benign gaze of a mounted moosehead with Judicial Arbiter Richard Dana presiding, consisted of technical information, as expert witnesses worked to establish a record of the completeness and adequacy (or lack thereof) of Energy Fuels’ mill application.

“We don’t’ glow in the dark,” Moose member Dan Hammond said. Hammond, like many West Enders, worked in uranium mines for much of his life. His community is comfortable with the industry, he said. It’s true that quite a few of the old-time miners have died. They’ve died of lots of causes, including drinking and smoking, he pointed out. Hammond himself is doing fine.

Others offered a different a different view.

“Everywhere there has been uranium mining and milling, there have been tragic consequences. Nothing is safe. Period,” said Rein Van West of Ouray County.

A decision from Dana is expected sometime this year and while the region awaits his decision, the Town of Telluride in October entered into a settlement agreement with Energy Fuels whereby it will be afforded the right to monitor possible effects of the uranium mill, if is is built, in exchange for withdrawing from the legal fight to have it built.

The decision to enter into the agreement angered some San Miguel County residents and the year closed out with the uranium mill still being one of most contentious issues in Western Colorado – as it will undoubtedly be for some time.